Monoterpenes and Iridoids

Monoterpenes and iridoids are important classes of secondary metabolites, and their biosynthesis as well as total synthesis approaches to access these compounds has attracted the interest of chemists for a long time. This chapter summarizes the most important biosynthesis pathways, and in addition illustrates how one of the most important recent developments in organic chemistry, asymmetric organocatalysis, contributed in the development of total synthesis approaches toward these compounds. It also gives a comprehensive introduction to asymmetric organocatalysis. The chapter covers some selected examples with the aid of organocatalysts for the synthesis of iridoids and the terpenoid parts of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids. Asymmetric organocatalysis cannot only be associated with a single class of natural products that can be accessed thereby. Organocatalysts can be powerful tools in the synthesis of a very broad variety of primary or secondary metabolites.